Most people who sit down to write must first contend with their Inner Critic: that super helpful part of our brains tasked with reminding us how much we suck. But there’s another voice in there that gets in the way of creativity, and sometimes it can harm our writing lives even more than the much-maligned Inner Critic.

Unintended breaks from writing – long and short – happen. Writing and productivity experts will tell you that strict adherence to routines and word counts are the only ways to find the gold at the end of the writing rainbow. But life happens, and sometimes you wake up and find it’s been weeks (or, gasp! months) since you’ve written.

We focus on many facets of the writing process here at TheRightMargin, but occasionally, it’s important to step back, elevate above process, and consider the behavioral and psychological forces at play in our creative lives. I find myriad hobgoblins lurking in the shadows of our personal psychologies; destructive little beasts who can derail the motivation and morale essential to novel writing, despite our best efforts to overcome their intrusions through good organizational habits.

Our mission is to help the world write more successfully. We believe that writing does not have to be a lonely journey and that every step forward can be as powerful as the moment that motivated and inspired you to write at all. Stop giving up. Start finishing.